Porsche Developing a Self-Driving System for their Cars

Porsche is currently taking a cue from Google and developing their very own system for a self-driving car. Known for their sexy streamlined designs, and a capacity to reach high gear in just seconds of hitting the pedal, we were a little perplexed that the company would want to put half the experience of riding a Porsche in the hands of a robot driver.

The engineers at Porsche have been working on a new, more advanced, cruise control system, called the ACC InnoDrive that should completely remove the need to even touch the car’s pedals. The concept behind the design is to create a safer more fuel-efficient vehicle that can be “trained” to best manage you most common routes.

As you repeatedly drive the car to your usual hot spots, the car begins tracking and memorizing the journey, making note of the average speeds, curves in the road and any elevation changes. The car then takes this raw data and uses it to create a trip profile that will provide it with all it needs to get you from point A to point B — you do however have to steer the vehicle.

At the moment the system is still in its prototype stages, and is being tested out in Porsche’s Panamera S.

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2 Comments

caemanJuly 1, 2011 at 9:33 am

Self-driving. Pfft! It’s called taking the bus. Come on people! Part of the excitement and intrigue of owning a car is to the spirit of the driving itself. Maybe you city folks have just become jaded with your packed highways and city streets.

lazyreaderJuly 1, 2011 at 8:04 am

Look above the system is called “Kit”. Over the last few years the automobile industry has unleashed a wide array of various technologies that ultimately lead to driverless cars. Volkswagen had announced that it has developed a car that incorporates a “temporary auto pilot” (TAP) that can drive at up to 80 mph. The car will steer within lanes, avoid and pass other cars, and obey speed limits. Unlike a fully driverless car, the temporary auto pilot is for highways only and can’t navigate streets. It also requires a human observer to watch for emergency situations. But it should greatly reduce accidents due to distracted driving.

A lot of cars have an option called adaptive cruise control or ACC, which uses radar or laser sensors to measure what appropriate distances to keep. It also has software to apply the brakes or the gas pedal to follow behind other cars on the highway and do so at closer distance more safely and alerts you when to take needed action allowing more cars to be on the highway per hour. Right now the technology is found in luxury cars or higher end vehicles. Automakers should work to make the technology cheaper so it can be added to nearly any car whose typical cost is less than 15-20 thousand dollars; since it may only be a 1,500 dollar option, whats that for a 18,000 dollar sedan. Most of the advanced technology found in luxury cars eventually finds it’s way into generic models in as little as a few years such as original cruise control, automatic windows, dashboard navigation systems. It’ll be worth it. Once 15-20 percent of cars on the road use ACC on the highways regularly, congestion will be nearly cut in half and fuel savings will significantly improve because we wont idle on the highway so much. Interstate Highways only account for 4 percent of all our roads, but account for 25 percent of traffic and miles driven. De-congesting our major highways will lead to big fuel savings and money savings, and the cost would be transferred to the drivers (the ones responsible for making the roads congested) rather than the huge public costs associated with building additional roads. Most of the technology developed is just 90 percent of what a driverless car is. Systems like Lane Departure Warning, Information displays, visibility aids to alert blind people, automatic parking, etc. We should push the initiative for driverless cars or at least semi-driverless cars. Nevada became the first jurisdiction in the world where driverless vehicles can be legally operated on public roads. Why push for transit which is always over budget and really expensive per capita when you can spend less in an automated vehicle.